Word: indonesian
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...sign you up for Camp Pampernickel?” we kept asking him. “It’s going to be the best summer ever.” We made brochures. Something you’ve always wanted to tell someone: To the person who stole my Indonesian ritual bat kite from Cabot storage: You are scum. Give it back. Favorite childhood toy: This outrageously large and unwieldy Nerf gun called the Razorbeast. It fired 15 suction-cup darts in two seconds. Sexiest physical trait: Fabulous muscles. Favorite part about Harvard: Chocolate milk at every meal. Describe yourself...
...tsunami tore through the prison, drowning inmates in their cells, Iskander punched his way through the roof and got away. We know the rest: nearly 170,000 people dead in Aceh, a gargantuan relief effort, and-amid the tragedy-a historic peace deal between G.A.M. and the Indonesian government. But Iskander's story didn't end there. In fact, it's just beginning. Irwandi Yusuf-his real name-was last week sworn in as the first directly elected governor of Aceh province...
...Guerrilla movements tend to form shaky governments; just look at the other end of the Indonesian archipelago, where East Timor is still mired in poverty and violence years after its hard-won independence. Yet Irwandi was never a gun-toting guerrilla. A veterinarian by training and a university lecturer by profession, he led a double life as an underground G.A.M. campaigner based in Banda Aceh. That, hopefully, has equipped him with the wiles to navigate Aceh's complex political and religious scene...
...must mediate between an Aceh not yet prepared to trust its old oppressors-the central government and the military-and a Jakarta still unconvinced of the new governor's loyalty to the nation. (At his inauguration inside the parliament building in Banda Aceh, Irwandi stood politely as the Indonesian anthem played, while Acehnese watching via screens outside jeered.) In return for G.A.M. abandoning its claim for independence, Jakarta has promised Aceh greater autonomy over its own affairs. But Irwandi must still win over a local legislature packed with pro-Jakarta nationalists and reform a dysfunctional bureaucracy which, with the help...
...Last week I called Irwandi again and asked him about the bad old days. Back in May 2003, I had been reporting on a massacre of villagers, including several boys, by Indonesian troops, and I knew that Irwandi, like thousands of other Acehnese, had been tortured by the security forces. But the governor wanted to look ahead. "I have shaken hands with my torturers," he said. "Of course, I won't forget. You can never forget." And my role in his arrest? Any hard feelings? "No," he laughed. "It was part of my life then. Those were the risks...